A Scientist's Tale
by BobR
Summary: Wherein Washu starts on the long road that ends at Tenchi's home.
1. The Project Begins

Disclaimer

Tenchi and all associated characters are the property of AIC and Pioneer LDC.  I don't own any rights to them.  Any other characters are property of their respective copyright holders, not me.

*****

A Scientist's Tale

Chapter 1

The Project Begins 

*****

"And that, my lords, is why you should allow funding for my project."

I thought my presentation was superb, as befits the greatest scientific genius in the universe.  At least it seemed to be much better and more thought out than that idiot Clay's.  I mean, a mechanical soldier, an android.  Pah!  Anyone can build one of those; the techniques had been refined centuries ago.  Still, the idea of a mutable mecha held merit…  Nah, my biologic model held much more promise, after all, it could easily be made self-replicating, it would require no artificial power source, and with the proper genetic manipulation could be made to resemble any known species.  Mechanical soldiers, indeed!  I turned and looked down the table, giving Clay my best scowl.  He smiled benignly back at me, but I could tell he was sweating under that grotesque beard of his.  Now, if only the Juraians would see things my way, my victory over that fool would be complete.

The large viewscreen on the far wall lit up again, showing the Holy Council of Jurai in all their obscure glory.  By now it had been over an hour since they had gone into deliberation over our proposals.  Even I, in my infinite confidence, was beginning to worry.  What if they chose Clay's project?  What if they chose neither?  Or even worse, what if they actually chose mine?  All I had to work with were theories; at least Clay's proposal was based upon active technology.

The head of the Council said something that I missed, being totally lost in my thoughts.  How embarrassing.  "Excuse me?" I said.  "Could you please repeat that?"

"Certainly Professor Hakubi," he said condescendingly.  "I said that the council has reached a tentative decision.  That's all."  He smiled at me the way one would smile at a wayward child.  Not that I blamed him, given the form I'd chosen to adopt.  But still…

"First of all, we would like to thank both of you, Doctor Clay and Doctor Hakubi for responding to our request.  Out of all the submissions, yours are the most promising.  It pleases us to know that we have two such great minds with our best interests at heart."

Yeah right, I thought, Clay's nothing if not totally altruistic.  Hah.  Even I have an ulterior motive.  Not that I wouldn't try my best.

"Both proposals have merit so we'd like to take this one step further.  We've agreed to approve tentative funding for a prototype from each project."

I was stunned.  _Both projects?_  Then I realized what was happening.  They liked mine better, but it was untested technology.  They weren't going to put all their money into something that might not work.  At least Clay's proposal used ideas they could understand.  Prototypes huh?  That was ok with me; I'd ever only intended to build the one model anyway.  Still, it'd be interesting to see what Clay came up with.  It shouldn't be a problem for me or one of my two assistants to hack into his research notes.  The man wasn't really an idiot; he might actually have something that I could use.  Goddess knows he'd be trying to steal or sabotage my work if given the chance.

"Professor Hakubi?"

Once again I hadn't been paying attention.  This was a habit I'd have to learn to break or it would come back to bite me sometime.  "Yes?" I replied, raising my face to the viewscreen.

"We can supply you with a suitable DNA sample if you wish."

"Uh, no thanks," I said, pretending to actually consider the offer for a moment.  "Maybe for the final model if it gets that far.  To save time I'll use a sample I'm already familiar with for the prototype.  If that meets with your approval?"  There was a long pause.

"That will be acceptable.  Now, we will need monthly progress reports for both projects and a cost analysis of…"  He droned on about details for a few minutes.  I breathed a sigh of relief.  That had been close, I'd thought for a moment that they'd insist on my using their sample and that would've blown the whole thing.  I couldn't wait to get started.

Leaving the conference room I found my two assistants waiting for me in the lounge.  "So Washu, how did it go?"  Kagato, the brighter of the two asked with a solemn look on his long face.  "Yes Professor, did they pick your project?" piped in Yakage, jumping to his feet.

I gave them both a glare that reminded them who was in charge, then tempered it with one of my famous grins.  "Almost; they ordered a prototype.  C'mon you two, we've got a lot of work to do."  Out of the corner of my eye I saw them give each other a high five and I couldn't help but chuckle.  Although I felt like joining in, my celebration would wait until the end of the project came and I had what I wanted.  Then I would celebrate, yes indeed.

*****

"So Professor, where do we start?" asked Yakage early the next morning.  

I pointed to the liquid nitrogen container I'd just set on the worktable.  "You'll find an ovum frozen in there.  I already have the DNA sequenced, let's start by running a few computer simulations on it to see what enhancements we'll need to make and where we should make them.  Then we'll do a bit of genetic manipulation and start the growth process."

"Is it fertilized?" Kagato asked, picking up the container and squinting at it as if he could read the codes through the metal and insulation.

"Nope," I said.  This is going to be a cloning process.  We'll fill in the empty half by replicating the existing part."

Kagato chuckled. "So the mother will also be the father?  How drole.  I suppose you know that by doing a straight replication the result will be female?"

I reached up and smacked him on the back of the head.  "Who's the senior Doctor here?  Of course I know that, you have a problem with it?"

He put the container down and rubbed the sore spot.  "No, not really.  But what will the Juraians say when you present them with a female super soldier?"

I laughed in his face.  "Nothing.  The Juraians aren't _that_ backwards, they already have female soldiers serving in combat roles.  Geez, you make it out like a female in combat is a bad thing.  How medieval."

Yakage put his arm around Kagato's shoulders.  "C'mon, I don't see a problem with it.  Let's get busy and start programming those simulations, it's going to take months to finish them all."

"You wouldn't have a problem, you're Juraian," Kagato muttered loud enough for me to hear.  He picked up the container and followed Yakage into the sequencing room.  Before he allowed the door to close he turned back to me.  "Washu, can we get more samples if we need to?  Not that anything should happen, but if it does I'd hate for the project to fail because we relied on a single sample."

"Now you're thinking like a scientist," I told him.  "Sure, there's plenty more where that one came from.  But the procedure to extract them is mildly painful so I don't want to ask the donor for more if I don't have to, get it?"

He nodded.  "I understand Professor, we'll take good care of this one.  I just needed to know, just in case you understand."

I smiled and shooed him out of the room.  Sighing deeply, I took a seat at my computer terminal and started to make a list for them of the enhancements I wanted to include and what the Juraians expected.  The only one that evaded me for the moment was that the Juraians requested that the being be self-transporting.  But I'd come up with something.  I always did.

*****

To be continued?

*****

Author's Notes

This takes place in the OAV universe although I will be mentioning and using a few characters from the manga, like Yakage.  Their lives will just take different directions.

The idea for this one came to me while I was cutting grass.  Strange how things pop into your mind at the oddest moments.  I decided to write it in first-person just to see if it could be done, let me know if it works or not and whether I should continue it.

Before anyone asks: yes, this does fit into my other stories.  It just takes place 5000 years before them.  Sorry this first part is so short but it's the only piece that's complete.  I have portions of the rest (up to Washu's imprisonment by Kagato) worked out, but they're still in my head.  I'll try to get them out as soon as possible, but I have two other stories in the works, one that has yet to be posted (the Ayeka's pregnancy story; it may never be posted if I don't come up with some more ideas for it)

*****

BobR

5/26/2002


	2. Problems and Solutions

Disclaimer

Tenchi and all associated characters are the property of AIC and Pioneer LDC.  I don't own any rights to them.  Any other characters are property of their respective copyright holders, not me.

*****

A Scientist's Tale

Chapter 2

Problems and Solutions 

*****

I was sitting at one of the multi-function terminals in the main lab when Kagato rushed in.  "Professor Washu!" he called.  Whenever he called me "professor" I knew he was excited by something.  "Professor Washu!  This is amazing!"

Swiveling on my comfy cushion I gave him my best evil eye.  "What's amazing my apparently-not-so-well-trained student?  You have to be more explicit."  I had no idea what had him so worked up, but from the way he was waving papers around, papers which were now becoming scattered all over my nice, neat lab, it must be something important.

"That sample Washu, the one you gave us the sequences for.  It's amazing.  I must meet the donor!"

I shook my head.  "I'm afraid that's impossible. She insists on remaining anonymous.  But what's so amazing about it?  It's just a humanoid ova."  Since I knew the donor on a – ahem – _very_ personal level, I wondered just what had him all worked up.  If there was something odd I really needed to know about it.  "Calm down and tell me about it.  What's so amazing?" I repeated.  By now he was so worked up he could hardly speak.  His mouth moved like he was trying to tell me, but no sounds were coming out.  I held up my hand and his mouth closed with a snap.  "Take a deep breath and start over.  Remember, you are a scientist; we don't get excited like this.  Calm.  Be calm."  I noticed his face starting to turn blue.  "You CAN breath you know."

Kagato took several deep breaths before attempting to speak again.  This time he was much more understandable.  "The DNA sequence for the ovum you gave us to work with.  We've just finished running the simulations and…"

"Well!  It's about time," I broke in.  "It's been what?  Eight months since you started?"  I was teasing him and he knew it.  He smiled at me.

"Eight and a half," he replied.  "Ahead of schedule I believe?"  It was his turn to tease me.  "Yakage and I finished determining the strands we'd need to change to achieve the results you want.  There's still the problem of the power source though and the long-distance transport."

Heh.  I'd already worked the power problem out, but I'd wait a bit to spring it on him.  Surprise is fun.  All of this banter was fine, but I was starting to become impatient with him.  "And?" I prompted to move the conversation back on track.

"You won't believe what we found."

I thought I'd annoy him a bit more.  "Try me."  I was started to tap my foot on the floor.  

He noticed and swallowed hard before continuing.  "We don't need to make all the required modifications.  Most are already in place."

I was busy watching the expressions fly across his face so at first I missed the implications of what he'd just said.  "That's nice," I said and then his words struck home.  "What?  That's impossible!  Which ones are already there?"

"Teleportation, telepathy, telekinesis.  The last two are very weak though.  The ability to form and focus energy, although as I said, a power source still has to be found."

I was stunned.  "Flight?" I asked trying to hide my excitement.  I failed miserably.  I knew the donor had the potential, but had never attempted it.  

He shook his head.  "Possibly, but that's one we might have to add, along with the astral projection defense mechanism.  There seem to be others that we can't qualify too."

"Such as?"  I was starting to shake with anticipation.

Kagato laughed at my state.  "Why Professor Washu!  I'm shocked!  If we knew that then we'd be able to qualify them.  I will say that the donor must be an amazing woman.  She must have godlike powers if she shows even a fraction of the potential of her DNA.  That's why I want to meet her.  Please?"  He was almost begging.

Once again I had to disappoint him, I wasn't ready to reveal the true source of the sample.  Not yet.  "As I said before, that's impossible right now.  But maybe someday I'll be able to arrange it.  Now tell me more about your findings."  It seemed that the donor was a bit more unusual than I'd suspected.  I started to wonder why but for some reason my mind switched over to another train of thought.  Something always intervened whenever my brilliant mind turned to that subject.

My answer seemed to satisfy him and he shrugged his broad shoulders. "What's to tell?  Yakage is finishing up the sequencing to add flight, molecular phasing and the projection ability.  We'll be ready to apply them to the sample in a few days, then once we find a power source we can begin the growth process."

I chuckled to myself, it was time to tell him.  I'd been working on the power problem almost non-stop for the past three weeks and thought I'd finally come up with a solution.  "Don't start the resequencing yet," I said.  "There are a few more sims I want you to run."

His eyes widened as he caught my meaning.  "You've solved the power problem?" he asked.

"Maybe.  Have you heard of a species called "Mass" or "Masu"?"

He closed his eyes in thought.  "Mass?"  His eyes opened even wider than before with an almost audible 'pop'.  "Of course!  A life form that contains both matter and anti-matter.  They are entirely self-sustaining and don't require anything outside their own bodies, aside from an occasional intake of raw material, to survive.  You can't be thinking…"

I was grinning from ear-to-ear now.  "Of course I am.  Think of it, our super soldier won't need to eat or breathe, although she could if she wanted to…  She'll be impervious to most extremes of heat and cold and still be able to generate enough power to use all her functions."

"But only for short periods," he reminded me.  "As I recall, a Mass that uses all it's power for long periods self-destructs with cataclysmic results." 

I waved his concerns off.  "We can include safeguards against that.  Tie the power level and duration into the brain chemical emitters.  If she uses her power at too high a level or for too long she'll feel exhaustion."

He pondered that for a moment.  "That could work," he said.  "But it would be a false feeling.  What if it's overridden?  Adrenaline could do that."

He had a valid point there.  "True," I agreed.  "We'll have to cut adrenaline production at the same time."

It was his turn to disagree.  "Can't do it.  What good's a super soldier that gets tired just walking down the street?  We need a way to regulate the power, not cut it off."

I considered his words and saw the truth in them.  "Ok then, I'll start working on that, you start running the sims with the Mass data."

*****

A week later the sim results were back and looked very promising.  But I was still stymied by the power regulation problem.  There had to be a way to do it.  If only there was a way to store the excess or bleed it off somehow.  I lay in my bed and contemplated the rough pattern of the ceiling. Power.  Storage.  No organic battery known would be able to handle the load I was dealing with.  There _was_ no solution; maybe I should just give up.  Could Clay actually win this one?

I hopped out of bed and staggered over to the mirror on the wall.  My bloodshot eyes glared back at me.  Damn, I looked like I hadn't gotten any sleep in weeks.  Maybe that's because I really hadn't.  Swallowing another stimtab, I regarded my reflection with some amusement.  "There MUST be a solution to this," I told myself.  "I only need the one, there'll never be any more."  My eyes fell to the small jewelry case that I always kept on the table.  Flipping it open I once again admired the softly glowing beauty of the three red gems it contained.  I could feel the power bound within them and knew that with a little effort I could tap into it.  But something held me back from doing so, as it had my entire life, a silent warning in my head that I wouldn't like the results if I gave in to temptation.

Three gems of power, infinite in capacity.  Unique.  Alone in this universe, just like me.  An idea suddenly occurred to me.  Slamming the box shut, I snatched it up and ran for the lab, not even noticing my state of total undress.  Yeah, good thing it was late and everyone else was in bed.  Where I should have been.  

Upon entering the lab I grabbed a chair and sat down in front of a terminal.  I shivered a bit because the hard plastic of the seat was cold on my bare bottom but I didn't let that interfere.  Quickly I began entering new parameters into the data, based upon what little I knew about the gems.  The results came back within minutes.  It would work.  The prototype would only require one gem for storage, but I planned on giving her all three.  After all, I had no real use for them; they were just pretty baubles to me.  Let's see.  Build receptors here, here and…  yes, right there.  Functional and aesthetically pleasing.  Excellent.  My creation would be a real man-killer in more than one sense of the word.  Not that I really intended for her to actually kill anyone.  If I had my way, she'd be kind and gentle along with powerful.  And beautiful of course, like her 'mother'.  I chuckled.  I _would_ have my way and Jurai would never realize it.

Satisfied that I'd finally solved all the power problems, I saved the data and made my way back to my room where I fell into bed and didn't remember anything for the next twenty hours.

*****

I awoke to a thunderous banging on my door.  "Washu!  Professor Washu!  Wake up!" called a muffled voice.  It was Yakage; obviously they'd found my data.

Jumping up, I threw on a handy robe (why did these things always seem to be there when I needed them?) and cracked open the door.  "Yeah?  Wadda ya want?" I mumbled in my best 'just woke up' voice.  I usually wake up fully alert and today was no exception, I just wanted to put him off a bit.

"Professor, I'm sorry.  I wanted to wake you yesterday but Kagato wouldn't let me.  We're done integrating your new data into our models and we think the project is ready to move into the next phase."

"Uh huh," I mumbled.  "Whatever.  Let me get dressed and grab a bite to eat then I'll join you in the lab.  Yesterday?" I asked.  He nodded happily.  "Geez, it coulda waited until tomorrow at least."  I hid a grin as I watched his face fall; he thought I was upset.  "Oh, go on," I told him.  "I'll be there in about half an hour.  Start setting things up."  The smile reappeared on his face and he turned happily away and headed off down the hallway.  I sighed as I eased the door shut.  Oh, to be that young again.  I considered what to do next but a quick sniff told me that a shower was first on the agenda, then a meal.  I was humming a nonsense song from my youth as I shrugged out of the robe and stepped into the hot spray.  Today was going to be a good day, everything was starting to come together and in a few more months I'd have my dream.  My daughter.

*****

To be continued

*****

Argh!  I've fallen into a trap of my own making!  As this story develops I'm finding minor inconsistencies with my other work.  I'm going to play Devil's Advocate here and point them out before one of my loyal readers (that's you guys) finds them and does a number on me.  (Some people love to do that, right Dragonbard?  Hell, I do it myself sometimes.)  All of them (so far) concern Washu's gems.  In Conversations II Washu told Ryoko that she no longer needed them, she had Tenchi for focus (the focus part will come later – hint: think Dumbo…) but what about their power restricting function?  What's taking over that? (Don't know, but I have a couple of ideas.)  Secondly, even though Minagi won't be in this I have to take her into account.  This Yakage never creates her, but she does cross paths (and dimensions) with this Ryoko.  They do share something of a common background so what did her Yakage use to restrict her power?  He had no gems available and since he supposedly took a finished DNA sample to create her, does that mean that she also has the receptors for the gems?  Probably.  I know these are all minor details, probably not worth giving myself an ulcer over, but I also know I won't be happy until I come up with a solution.  Still, this is a fun one to write and I hope no one takes it too seriously.

Now, about one other thing.  If the narrative seems kinda choppy, short sentences and ideas, that's intentional.  It's meant to show how quickly Washu's thoughts flow.

*****

Review Responses

Dennisud – Sorry, no Minagi here, that's an alternate Reality.  Although if you read my notes you'll see that I do have to allow for her.

Thundergod – It's my first attempt at a first-person story.  It just seemed to me the best way to tell of Ryoko's origin was in Washu's own words.

Smack54 – I too like origin stories, that's why I decided to try my hand at one.  The Ayeka story on the other hand…  I don't know, it's going awfully slow and I don't want to try to force it.  Those tend to turn out badly.

Wharpt – Yes, another multi-chapter extravaganza.  You're absolutely correct about dull and repetitive stuff spurring my imagination (I love my life…)  My idea for my first story (Conversations) occurred to me while driving home along the turnpike from a vacation in Virginia last year.

Lizzy Hakubi – Did I surprise you (or anyone else) with this one?  Heck, I didn't even know I was going to write it until half an hour before I actually sat down to do it.

Vsdefender – Yep, a Washu POV story.  But it's only going to cover a brief period in her long life.  I also have an idea (spurred by this story) for a short Misaki POV about Ayeka's childhood.  We'll have to wait and see if that one ever develops though, right now it's just a few random thoughts.

Taxzombie – Hey, I haven't heard from you in a long time.  Glad you're enjoying this one.

Solitareone – Glad you like it, but as you can see from my notes things don't fit together as well as I'd like them too.  Close though…  very close.

*****

BobR

5/21/2002


	3. Processing

Disclaimer

Tenchi and all associated characters are the property of AIC and Pioneer LDC.  I don't own any rights to them.  Any other characters are property of their respective copyright holders, not me.

*****

A Scientist's Tale

Chapter 3

Processing 

*****

I spent the next three days verifying the data that my two assistants had gathered.  Not that I didn't trust them, but well…  I didn't trust them.  No, really.  I was sure that their research was good but they might have slipped something into the matrix that I didn't want.  Using their data I instructed the mainframe to build me a 3d model of our potential result.  It was most informative, she really did look like her mother.  If her mother chose to be an adult that is.  I adjusted the parameters so that she would be 'born' at the apparent age of sixteen and asked for a list of potential 'powers' based on the current data.  Then I let the computer do its job for a while and called Yakage over.  Kagato followed him, curious as to what I wanted.

I pointed to a spot on my monitor.  "You were in charge of physical characteristics.  What's this?"  

He hemmed and hawed a bit then turned several shades of red before answering.  "I just thought they'd look good.  You can remove them if you want, Professor."

I looked him straight in the eye, amused by his discomfiture.  "I just might.  Whatever gave you the idea that I'd want my prototype to have fangs?  She's supposed to be able to blend in with the general population."

Yakage turned bright red this time.  "I don't know; they just seemed to fit.  I think they makes her look kinda sexy, in a scary kind of way."

"Pervert," muttered Kagato with a half smile.  

Yakage turned and gave him a dirty look.  He was about to say something when I broke in.  "Ok, I like it.  But what say we make them just a wee bit smaller?  Don't you really think one-inch canines would look a _little_ odd?"  I made a minor adjustment to the dental parameters.  "Let's say about this size?"  Yakage nodded agreement.  I patted him on the back before continuing.  "I like what you did with the energy output.  A sword eh?  From you it figures.  Wasn't your thesis on energy swords?"

"Yes Professor," the young Juraian answered my question.  "Specifically on the ability to form a blade using Jurai power.  I think it's possible for the Lighthawk shields of the treeships to form such a weapon, but it's only a theory.  Besides, how would they wield it?"

"I dunno," I answered.  "I haven't given it much thought."  Untrue; I'd read his paper and found his theories had a solid foundation.  I also found that his research paralleled some of my own work on the power gems.  Interesting.  I'd have to look into the coincidence further some day, maybe with Yakage's help.  Given the chance, this lad would go far.  The computer finished it's crunching and displayed the results of my query.  Out of the corner of my eye I watched the expressions on the faces of my two assistants as I read the list.  I allowed my eyebrows to rise and fall as each item fell under my scrutiny.  I stopped at one particular line.  "Kagato, explain this please."  He came up and peered over my shoulder.

"Oh, that.  I thought a translator function might be useful.  I was able to include it without sacrificing any of the other abilities."

"Does it work both ways?" I asked.  I already knew the answer from the DNA sequence but I wanted to see if he knew.

"No," he said.  It's only one way.  Making it both ways would mean giving something else up.  But given the obvious IQ potential, one way should be plenty.  The subject should pick up new languages like iron filings to a magnet."

"Ok," I agreed.  "It can stay, along with the fangs.  I see you've also included enhanced senses; she'll almost be able to 'see' sounds and 'hear' colors.  Very nice work."  It was too.  I'd never expected them to go beyond the constraints I'd conservatively set.  I was pleased to see them both taking some initiative in the project, even though Kagato's inclusions far outdistanced Yakage's.  For now anyway.   

I continued on down the list of attributes.  "Lessee.  Molecular phasing, check.  Limited flight ability, check.  Teleportation, the specs didn't call for it but… check.  Telekinesis, I see you enhanced it a bit, check.  Telepathy, ah, enhanced again, check.  Ability to use focused energy and plasma, check.  I also see you've made allowances for the extra strength by making the skeletal structure denser.  Good idea.  And regeneration too.  Wonderful."  It would be interesting to see how she'd use these abilities and the possible combinations that she might come up with.  Once again I was amazed at the initiative they'd taken in programming these sequences.  Although she wouldn't be impossible to kill, she'd be very difficult.  About the only ways that I could see were total disintegration or cutting her head off, any other body part she'd be able to grow back.  "There can be only one," I mumbled, low enough so they didn't hear me.  If we succeeded there would never be another like her.  

I took a few minutes and finished reviewing the list, although I'd already seen enough.  I wanted them to sweat a bit.  I turned back to them, seeing the anxious look on both their faces.  "Ok boys, let's set it up.  Get those genes spliced and that DNA mixed.  Let's get this baby grown."  I was feeling rather anxious myself now.  I clapped my hands.  "I mean right now gentlemen.  Get to it!"  They scooted off to start working on the final preparations.

*****

Three weeks passed and the child, yes, I'll use the term child, was growing nicely, ahead of schedule.  Already her apparent age was of about four years; I was going to have to slow down the growth process so that we didn't underrun our timetable.  That called for her to be 'born' in about three months at an apparent age of sixteen; at the current rate she'd meet that in about six more weeks.  Besides, slowing down the growth process gave me more time to feed information into her brain.  Yes, I was programming her as we grew her.  And the programs were ones that I'd developed myself.  Yakage, Kagato and the Juraians, especially the Juraians, had no clue as to what I was giving her.  Of course I couldn't hope to teach her everything in the next three months, nor could I hope that she could integrate and use what information I _was_ giving her in that time.  For all that she would look like an adult when she came out of the growth tube, she'd still have a young child's mentality.  At least for a while.

I sat gnawing on a pencil (I wonder where _that_ came from?) and watching her image on the monitoring screen for a long time.  We'd have to move her soon, Clay was running into difficulty with his project and only last week Yakage had caught a couple of his assistants nosing around outside our lab.  I'd learned that he was having trouble powering his creation, Combat Android # Zero he called it.  How creative.  Sigh.  At least he had a name; all _I_ had was a project reference number, R9656-A(P).  Anyways, I'd found out that he was planning to use an antimatter reactor to power his project.  I wonder where he got that idea?  I confronted my two assistants and they both denied having anything to do with any of Clay's people.  I didn't believe them, Clay had some really cute humanoid females working for him and knowing both of my assistants well…  

I later found that he'd managed to hack into our outer level of files and found a reference to antimatter and an early set of our development parameters that I'd thought I'd deleted.  My fault the whole time.  I apologized to my assistants and bore the brunt of their displeasure for several days.  But I lived with it and once they got over their huff we all shared a laugh when I told them about how I'd managed to infiltrate some of my emotion programming into his project's core OS files as payback.  So anyway, in order to get away from Clay's people and their incessant attempts at spying, we going to have to move the project.  And I believed I had just the place.

Several centuries ago the Academy had purchased an obsolete fleet of old capital ships from a government that needed some quick cash.  Most had been broken up and their materials and systems reused by the Academy in other areas.  But being one of the people that had brokered the deal, I knew that there was still one ship intact.  Intact and functional.  And I was the only one who knew where she was.  Hey, you never know when one might need a giant, obsolete warship.  

The Souja was almost fully automated (I'd been keeping her systems updated for years) and since there were only the three of us (soon to be four) there should be plenty of room aboard her for everything we needed to finish up.  In the space of one week we managed to secretly transfer our entire project, all the equipment (including the active growth cylinder, no mean feat let me tell you) and all the data, to the Souja.  Although the Souja was a _retired_ warship and most of her weapons had been stripped out before the sale, I'd managed to scrape up enough guns to rearm her, defensively at least.  She was no prize, but she would do for our needs.

*****

The project was progressing smoothly now but there was still one part missing, the long distance transport.  Teleporting was ok for short distances, flight for slightly longer ones.  Actually, flight was all the Juraians had asked for but I wanted to do better than that, I wanted my super soldier to be able to move across interstellar distances.  But now you're thinking "Why?  Won't the Juraians be transporting them on troop ships?"  Well, yes, but…  Stop and think of the possibilities.  We have a super powerful being that's almost impossible to kill.  _Almost_ impossible, not totally impossible.  Why use them as cannon fodder?  What we have here is an ideal being for small-unit tactics, not large-scale assaults (now I'm not denying that she'd be effective there too...), or spying.  After all, subtlety is my middle name.  Hakubi "Subtlety" Washu, that's me.  Besides, who said the Juraians were ever going to see the results of this project?  So I set about designing a personal transport for my creation.  It would have to be living, not mechanical and I already had a power source, the Mass.  But it would also have to be concealable or easy to overlook.  What to disguise it as…  A rock?  Nah, who wants to carry a rock around all day?  An animal?  Hmm, maybe I was on to something.  But what kind of animal?  It would have to be fairly small.  No, not just an animal then, a pet.  Something cute and cuddly.  Yes, just the thing.

*****

There is a silicon-based creature on a planet far from Jurai that is moderately intelligent but not quite sentient.  Now, you're saying "But Washu, there's any number of creatures like that.  What makes this one so special?"  I'll tell you.  This creature is capable of enlarging itself over a thousand-fold when threatened.  It's basically a peaceful being, a grazing animal (I don't care to describe just what it grazes on, nor do you care to know.  Trust me.)  Since it's silicon-based, by manipulating its genes I could turn it into a living computer and define its forms, both animal and when enlarged.  And since silicon and carbon are so close together structure-wise, I could even give it a few of the same abilities that I gave my super-soldier.  The difficult part would be combining the organic material from the Mass and the mineral stuff from the creature.  

Now, what to make it look like?  Cute and cuddly I'd said.  A quick search for "cute and cuddly" with the addition of "mostly harmless" in the online Galactic Encyclopedia showed me two possibilities, both from Juraian colony world 0315 (I guess that's where the "mostly harmless" parameter kicked in); an animal known as a "bunny rabbit" and the other known as a "kitty cat".  After just looking at their pictures and saying their names a few times I needed a shot of insulin.  Goddess, where do they come up with these things?  Well, either would do but why stop there; since I was recombining DNA anyway, why not cross them?  Sure!  Perfect!  Who's going to pay attention to a beautiful girl with a cute little animal?  Eh, probably a lot of _males_ would, but officially she wouldn't rate a second glance.  

Summoning my two assistants (who were just now realizing what they had gotten into when they asked for the jobs), I explained what I wanted.  Kagato and Yakage gave each other a look that said they both thought I was nuts, then with deep sighs and slumped shoulders they turned and left, Yakage muttering something about "back to square one".  I had no clue what he meant since we weren't dealing with geometric shapes yet (that would come a bit later when we designed the actual ship form) but Kagato obviously did because I heard him agree with his compatriot as the door closed behind them.  Knowing that I could trust them to do all the preliminary work, I turned my attention back the tank monitors.  I never grew tired of watching my beautiful little girl grow.

*****

To be continued

*****

Author's Notes

I want to thank Lizzy Hakubi for giving me an idea of how to get the Souja into this story.  I was kind of stuck on that one.  Thanks Melissa.

There's three intentional "Easter Eggs" in this chapter, two fairly obvious and the other less so.  A virtual cookie to the person who finds all of them first.

*****

Review Responses

Dennisud – Do you really want to open that can-o-worms here? All right then, although his second ending was more to my personal taste, I actually liked the first one better.  I'm probably one of the few who did.

Thundergod – I'm glad you didn't need to use the shredder although there are a few chapters of some of my stories that deserve it.

Wharpt – Actually, that was one of the best explanations I'd come up with myself.  But Jurai power usually requires a Tree and neither Yakage nor Minagi have one.  Omaha huh?  I was through there once, back in '70 or '71.  'Course I was young (12 or 13) at the time.  Still, it's funny you should pick a Bob Seger song since he's from Ann Arbor which is only a short distance (35 miles) north of here.  I drive up there occasionally to Wizzywig Collectibles, the anime shop near U of M.

Smack54 – You're quite correct.  Although Lucas did manage to tie the Death Star into Episode Two if you've seen the movie and caught that part.  I like it when readers catch things I miss; it shows they're paying attention.

DiCyfer – Actually it's not that easy.  There's an inconsistency in the series itself and one I hope to address in this fic.  The gems can't be replicated yet Ryoko managed to do so, not once but twice.  (The first replica self-destructed when Tenchi cut her hand off in "Ryoko Resurrected" and she used the second in "We Need Tenchi".)

Lizzy Hakubi – I know, that's because there was less than three hours between concept and finished chapter.  I also know that a few of the words I used are probably beyond anything you've learned in your English classes.  That wasn't intentional and it probably confused any number of native English-speakers too.  As Mr. Nichols said, it's called 'technobabble' and even though it all sounds cool it doesn't really mean anything.  Like in Star Trek: "We need to reconfigure the Main Deflector and bounce a subspace signal off that quasar to avoid the Romulan Sensor Net."  You say "Eh, I don't know what they mean, but it sounds right to me" then forget about it and move on to the next scene.

Taxzombie – You squeezed in under the wire.  I was ready to post this chapter when I read your review.  Please don't feel obligated to review any of the previous stuff you missed.  Although I enjoy reading people's thoughts of my work (good or bad), I don't live for them. (A little voice in my head's saying "Liar!")  I'm always pleased to see a new comment but I don't ever tell myself that I need XX reviews before I go on.  (Now the voice is saying, "Well, at least _that_ part is true…")

*****

BobR

5/30/2002


	4. Concerns and Surprises

Disclaimer

Tenchi and all associated characters are the property of AIC and Pioneer LDC.  I don't own any rights to them.  Any other characters are property of their respective copyright holders, not me.

*****

A Scientist's Tale

Chapter 4

Concerns and Surprises 

*****

From the Project Journal of Doctor Hakubi Washu:

…  The subject is now approaching the end of her second month of development.  And boy, what development.  Even at the apparent age of twelve or thirteen she's quite a beauty, she has looks and a build that most grown women would envy.  We're still not sure why her hair is that odd bluish color, a double check of the genetic code shows that it should have been red, like her mother's.  I can only hope that it doesn't mean that spontaneous mutation is taking place, or if it is, that it's isolated to this one feature.  The hair color does seem to fit her though.  Nothing else seems to be out of place.

*****

I finished making the latest entry in my journal and shut off the terminal.  It was time to see how the other part of the project was coming along today.  I wandered out into the corridor from my quarters and headed in the general direction of the main lab.  We'd finished encoding the transport entity several days ago and my assistants were supposed to be busy setting up an incubation chamber.  Kagato wasn't at all happy with either form of the being; the animal was "too sickeningly cute" he'd said and the ship was "too pointy".  They disturbed his aesthetic values.  Heh.  Good thing he wasn't in charge then.

Entering the lab I found Yakage finishing up the main computer unit, a small red organic gem that would be appear to be embedded in the animal's forehead.  This was nothing new, organic jewels with learning capability and self-awareness had been used to control ships for years.  Even the Juraians used them in their non-tree ships.  What made this one unique was its size, that and it was self-replicating.  It contained the entire genetic code for the animal and if any part of it survived it could regrow the entire beast.  In fact we were going to put that to the test.  Instead of using an ovum like we did with the humanoid part of the team we would grow the little darling from the crystal.

"Ah, Yakage," I exclaimed, touching him on the shoulder (after making sure the all-important crystal was safely on the countertop).  "How's it coming today?"   He'd obviously not been paying attention because I swear he jumped two feet straight up when I touched him.

"Ppprofessor," he stuttered as he tried to recompose himself.  "Fffine I guess.  But I still can't figure out why the animal's normal reproductive system won't function correctly in the sims.  The regeneration works fine but…"

"But don't worry about it," I told him.  "Like I told you before, it's probably something to do with the organic/nonorganic interface.  This is just a prototype, turn it off in the genetic code and we'll worry about it if we ever get to production."  That wasn't going to happen, but I wasn't going to tell him that.

"But the other subject…" he continued to argue.

"Has a working reproductive system.  Right.  She's totally organic though, but there's a problem there too.  The genetics of the Mass don't allow for normal humanoid conception so we've already turned most of that process off chemically."  I poked at him with a finger.  "How many times do I have to tell you, these are _prototypes_?  So you see, it's really no problem at all."  Actually, this _was_ a problem.  I wanted my daughter to have as close to a normal life as possible.  I'd have to work on it and until her reproductive DNA was permanently set it should be possible to fix it.  But this was not the time or place.  If everything went according to plan I'd have plenty of time to make minor adjustments before finalizing the code.  Without any other help.

The door 'shushed' open and Kagato walked in, three steaming cups of tea in his hands.  "Ah, Washu.  Somehow I knew I'd find you here so I brought an extra cup."  

I nodded my thanks and took the offered beverage, not showing how annoyed I was with his manner of speech.  It seemed that over the past few weeks he'd stopped using the honorific "Professor" or "Doctor" whenever he addressed me.  Oh, not always, but enough for me to notice.  It was as if he now saw himself as my equal.  True, he was a doctor in his own right; but still, as one of his instructors it was still correct to address me by my title.  I mentally shrugged and determined not to let it bother me.  He was still unfailingly polite to both Yakage and myself and was totally committed to seeing this project through.

"So, what's on our agenda for today?" asked Kagato, taking a sip of his drink.

I eyed him over the rim of my cup.  "I was about to inform Yakage that I think we're ready to start the generation process."

Kagato gently put his cup down.  "But what about the repro…" he began.

I held up my hand to stop him.  "As I was explaining to your counterpart here before you arrived, it's not a problem.  We'll work it out in production."

"I see.  So both prototypes are to be flawed then."

Flawed?  How dare he!  I struggled to keep my temper.  "No," I gritted out.  "These are design problems that need to be worked out, but we also need to show the Juraians some positive results.  The reproductive problems of both subjects are _not_ an issue to the Holy Council, _nor_ to me at this point."

He looked at me with hooded eyes for a moment and I felt Yakage shrinking under his gaze.  His face suddenly cleared and he rubbed his hands together.  "We'd better get started then, hadn't we?" he asked, picking up the crystal and moving it to the incubation chamber.

I shook off the sudden chill that I'd had and moved over next to him to monitor his work.  "What's our timeframe?" I asked, peering into the chamber.

Without looking up from where he was running a series of probes to the jewel he replied, "Normally, about a week.  We can shorten it to eighteen hours in a pinch but we loose some stored memory functions and risk a temporary decrease in capability."

"Ah," I agreed.  "And your plans are…?"

He made a final connection and closed the chamber before turning to me.  "We'll take it slow this first time, to monitor the growth.  I think two months should do it.  That'll also give the other subject some time to acclimatize to the outside world before we introduce another variable."

This fit in nicely with my own plans so I gave him the go-ahead to proceed.  The lights in the room dimmed as Yakage fed power to the crystal to activate it for the first time.  Once the readings had stabilized I picked up my cup, nodded to the both of them and left.  I had some things to think about.

*****

Later that afternoon Yakage found me in my usual spot, watching the girl through the monitors.  "Beautiful, isn't she Professor?" he asked quietly, not wanting to disturb my contemplation.  I agreed with him, just as quietly.

He stood beside me for a few minutes before saying anything else.  "If I ever have a daughter I hope she looks like her.  Even a little bit.  I've never seen such an exquisite creature."

For some reason this struck me as funny and a brief chuckle escaped me.  "We do good work the three of us."  My expression sobered.  "What Kagato said earlier about her being flawed, it's not true."  I felt his arm go around my shoulders as a single unseen tear ran down my cheek.

"I know it's not Doctor Washu.  By the way, have you noticed how the subject sort of resembles you?  I don't think we programmed that; who did you say the donor was?"

Today seemed to be the day for cold chills.  If Yakage noticed then Kagato…  "I didn't.  She wants to remain anonymous.  For her own reasons."  I looked up to find him examining my features.  

After a brief moment he nodded.  "I understand and I won't press you for an answer.  But I've read the Academy history, which includes your bio, like all students are required to, and for some it's not hard to put two and two together and get four, or in this case, a child.  Especially when I find you like this."  He sighed deeply, then smiled.  "But I don't believe Kagato's made the connection.  He's been too busy with his own work and the second subject to pay attention to the fine details.  I've noticed lately that he tends to ignore the small things and concentrate more on the large stuff."

I'd noticed the same thing about my erstwhile assistant, but something Yakage'd said made me pause.  "What stuff is he working on?  I haven't given him any extra work or even permission to work on another project."

The Juraian shrugged noncommittally.  "Don't know.  I know he's been getting up before the rest of us and I've seen him working on some of the Souja's systems in his spare time."

My head was starting to hurt.  "Systems?  Which systems?" I asked in a weak voice.

"Main armament, life support and some weird black box system that I've never seen on any other ship."

I felt a bit better, except for the last.  The Souja's main weapon had been deactivated when she was mothballed and it'd take an act of divinity to re-enable it.  Life support was pretty much foolproof so there wasn't much he could screw up there.  The other system though…  That was a former experiment of mine.  In fact it was the sole purpose I'd kept the ship in good condition.  I called it the "Mirror System", it was designed to be an escape-proof prison, but implementation had proved to costly so the project was scrapped.  The original small model was still onboard and in working order though.  I didn't see where his messing around with it could cause any problems, he might get himself stuck until I released him; still, I'd have to start keeping a closer eye on him.

*****

I sat in my cabin and looked at myself in the mirror.  Briefly assuming my adult form, I admired my body.  I still looked good, even after 15,000 years.  Not many could say that at my age.  I ran my hands slowly down my naked body, feeling the firm flesh spring back under the pressure.  Shaking my head I switched back to my child self and threw on the sleeping attire that I'd started wearing since we'd moved aboard.  Taking a last look in the mirror I thought, "She really does look like me.  Let's hope she has a better life."  I crawled into bed and shouted out the lights.  I was asleep in minutes.

The next morning, ship time that is, I was the first one up.  I made my way to the galley and started some water for tea then proceeded to make the three of us an enormous breakfast.  I had just finished laying it out when Kagato stumbled in to the room followed by a widely yawning Yakage.  Both of their eyes lit up when they saw the feast laid out before them.

"Professor!  This is wonderful!" exclaimed Kagato.  "What's the occasion?"

"No occasion," I replied.  "I just wanted to show my two most excellent assistants how much I appreciate all the time and effort they've put in."

"You didn't have to do this Professor," said Yakage as he took a seat and prepared to dig in.

"Yes I did," I said, shaking a cooking utensil in his direction.  "You two have done the majority of the work on this project while I've basically sat on my skinny butt."

"True," agreed Kagato between mouthfuls of egg.  "But it was your idea originally."

I smacked him with my fearsome weapon, the all-powerful battle-spatula.  "Fool.  You weren't supposed to agree with me.  Just say 'Thank you Professor Washu' and enjoy the meal.

"Thank you Professor Washu," they both mumbled slightly out of sync with each other.

"You're welcome children," I responded, taking off my apron and joining them at the table.  The rest of the meal was enjoyable and the banter between the three of us made it seem like old times.  I hoped that all of my fears of the day before were unfounded.

After the meal we all went to check on the progress of the second subject.  The jewel was glowing a dull red and the outer shell of the cocoon was starting to form around it.  Checking the readings I saw that everything was normal then I left them to monitor the subject's progress while I went to check on the girl, promising to return in a little while.

I entered the main lab and turned on the lights.  Checking the logs I saw some unusual brain activity had occurred overnight.  I quickly turned on the monitors and saw that her eyes were open.  This was remarkable; she should still be in suspension and unaware.  Rushing to the tube I pressed the button that turned it transparent and for the first time I saw my daughter with my own eyes and not through the lens of a camera.  Her eyes were open and she was looking directly at me.  I managed to turn my stunned expression into a weak smile but saw no recognition on her expression.  Suddenly something popped in my head and I 'heard' what seemed to be mental static.  Could it be her?  She was supposed to be telepathic and according to my assistants my genes showed that I was a latent telepath.  Since I didn't know exactly how this worked I attempted to send comforting feeling back along where I felt the static.  The girl suddenly blinked several times and then…

_Confusion _ came back at me.

_Comfort   Mother _ I sent back as feelings.

More blinks.  _Confusion _ came again.

I sighed and tried again.  _Calm   Happiness _

_Calm? _ came the sensation.  _Calm   Peaceful _  The girl grimaced, which I could tell was an attempt to mimic the grin which I knew was plastered across my face.  She didn't _quite_ have the muscle control yet though.  I noticed her eyes, golden with slightly slitted pupils.  Another mutation?  She should have had green eyes like mine and I didn't remember there being any felinoid genes in her matrix.  

So far all we were communicating with was feelings, which made getting abstract concepts across quite difficult.  I wanted to make it clear that she was to attempt contact with no one but me.

After what seemed like an eternity but was actually just a few minutes _Agreement _ came back across the link.  I could sense her fatigue from the effort to communicate with me.  _Sleep _ I sent.  _Rest _

_Agreement _ she sent back and closed her eyes, those beautiful golden eyes.  The brainwave patterns I had displayed on the monitors evened out, showing a deep sleep.  I opaqued the tube and turned down the lights.  I knew I needed to get back to the other lab but couldn't bring myself to leave at that moment.  I told myself that by staying I was giving myself time to calm down, that I didn't want my two assistants to know that I'd been in communication with the girl.  But in reality it was because I just couldn't tear myself away from that wonderful moment.

*****

To be continued

*****

Review Responses

Alighthawk – Actually that's not true.  I gather from watching GXP that there has been a Juraian and GP presence on Earth for a looong time.  But since I don't speak Japanese and the episodes I have are raw, I can't verify that.  I also remember reading somewhere that either the Juraians originally came from Earth or Terrans were originally from Jurai.  That may just be a fanfic thing though.

Taxzombie – There're gaps, believe me, but I'm doing my best to close them as I go.  And I certainly respect your 'selfish' reasons.  There are a few authors that I wish could move a bit faster with their work.

Thundergod – The ones that are fun to write seem to come out faster.  Not that the others aren't fun but some just seem to flow easier.  My chapters are shorter, averaging six pages (at which point some authors are just warming up) and my style is much simpler than some others as well, which also makes for faster writing.

Smack54 – Come on, the worst part about Episode II is the title.  I thought it was pretty good and especially enjoyed Yoda's lightsaber battle.  Clay's fight with Washu for the presidency of the Academy is fodder for another story but I'll try to fit some background into this one.

Lizzy Hakubi – Verbs are important.  Without them we wouldn't have any action, just boring descriptions and dialog.  Kinda like my stories.

Wharpt – No one's found that third one yet.  I like the 'granite' pun.


	5. Birth

Disclaimer

Tenchi and all associated characters are the property of AIC and Pioneer LDC.  I don't own any rights to them.  Any other characters are property of their respective copyright holders, not me.

*****

A Scientist's Tale

Chapter 5

Birth 

*****

I awoke at the soft touch of a presence in my mind.  She was active again; I wouldn't be able to keep her in the tube for much longer even though our schedule said she still had another two weeks before we took her out.  I glanced at the clock on the bulkhead above the cabin door.  Geez, one of the first things I'd have to explain to her was the concept of time, it seemed like she always called to me in the wee hours.  Typical child.  I sighed and got up, groping around in the dark for something to throw on then headed for the lab.

On the way there I sent _patience _.  I received a feeling of agreement.  Over the last few days it had become easier to communicate with her, but we were still on an empathic rather than telepathic level.  I didn't know how much of that limitation was hers and how much was my own inexperience with this form of communication.  I thought that it was mostly on my end because I'd tried to reach out to Kagato and Yakage and drew nothing but a blank with each.  Oh well, practice makes perfect they say and with this girl around I should be getting a lot of practice.

Entering the lab I immediately brought the lights up to a low level and increased the transparency level of the growth tube.  The girl smiled out at me and I saw a hint of a sparkle in her golden eyes.  I smiled back and waved, then summoned a cushion to sit on (like robes and pencils, these comfy items mysteriously appeared when I wanted or needed them.)  I looked up at her watching me and once again tried to send an actual though sequence.  No response.  I tried again.  Still nothing but apparently she could tell by watching me that I was making the effort because her brow furled in confusion.  I'd been trying for over an hour by now and was getting a headache.  I decided to give it one more chance before giving up and going in search of a buffered analgesic (I wonder if there's one in my robe pocket?)  

Grimacing with mental pain I sent out one last questing thought.  I felt something tear in my mind as if synapses were being realigned and suddenly I was looking down at myself, but what I saw was wonderful.  My body was bathed in a soft light that seemed to pulse with my thoughts.  I felt that with a little effort I would be able to see the interior structures and tissues, I realized that what I was seeing was well beyond the visible spectrum.  I was seeing myself through her eyes. I was in her head.  I lifted my right arm and watched as my body responded.  A quick adjustment and this time her body responded although I could feel her fighting my control.  I changed my mental perspective and now I could see her through my eyes while a portion of my mind was still focused through hers.  This was wonderful.  I drew entirely back into my own mind and headache all but forgotten I tried sending a thought again.

_Hello, _ I beamed.

I got a response.  _Who?  Who are you?  Who am I? _  She had a stunned look on her face.

_My name is Washu, I'm your mother, _ I sent.

_Name?  Your calling is Washu?  What am I called?  What is _my_ name? What is a '_mother'_? _  She was becoming a bit confused now.

_You don't have a name yet, but soon you will.  Search your mind for the meaning of 'mother', _ I replied.

She closed her eyes and thought for a moment.  _Ah, I see, _ she opened those golden orbs again. _You are my creator. _

I laughed to myself.  _Is that what 'mother' means to you?  Your creator?  I hope to become much more than that. _

She smiled at me and changed the subject.  _Will you let me out now that we can understand each other?  I want to be free. _

I knew from being in her mind that her powers were fully developed, if untested.  If she really wanted out there was nothing to stop her from breaking the tube.  I realized that this was a way to help earn her trust.  _Yes, _ I sent with a feeling of triumph.  _I have a few preparations to make first, but I will release you today. _  A feeling of relief that I knew came from her swept over me.  Once again I warned her not to attempt contact with anyone but me until she was free.  Then I told her to go back to sleep until I was ready to let her out.  She smiled and closed her eyes.  I felt her brain patterns even out as she entered the beginning stages of sleep.  I opaqued the tube, turned down the lights and when back to my cabin.  I was too excited to sleep so I began making plans for my daughter's birthday.

*****

After a shower and a bit of time brushing out my long hair, I wandered about the Souja thinking about how I would break my decision to my assistants.  I found Yakage in his usual place, huddled over a monitor in the small lab, eyeing the readings from our second subject.  I tiptoed up to him and clapped my hands together over his head, causing him to jump several feet and almost knock me over.  "Rule #1," I said.  "Always be aware of your surroundings."

He smiled ruefully at me from his prone position.  "I know Professor, I know.  But this work is fascinating."  He gathered himself up and clambered to his feet.  "Why are you in such a good mood this morning anyway?" he asked, dusting himself off (not that there was actually any dust in the lab.)

"Well, I…" I started to reply, a sly smile touching my lips.

"I believe she has an announcement to make," came a voice from the door, startling me.  Turning around, I saw Kagato leaning against the doorframe, a wry smile playing about his lips  "Tsk, tsk Professor," he said.  "Weren't you just warning my erstwhile compatriot about being aware of his surroundings?  But you were saying…" he gestured for me to continue.  

I smiled at him but something in his look made me keep my mouth shut.  He straightened up and stalked into the room.  "If you won't continue, then I will," he stated.  Watching for my reaction he said to Yakage, "She's going to let the girl out of the tank today, isn't that right Professor?"  Without waiting for a reply he continued, "And she's been in mental contact with her for several days at least."  

I was amazed at how much he knew but I didn't let it show.  Yakage on the other hand… "B…  B…  But Professor," he stuttered.  "The second subject isn't ready yet.  And the girl still has two weeks according to the project schedule."  I shushed him with my hand.

"Interesting," I said in a dry tone.  "And just how do you know all of this?"

"Do you deny it?" Kagato asked, a sneer painting his face.

"Nope," I shook my head.  "Everything you say is true but I still want to know how _you_ know."

He chuckled and pointed up to a small, unobtrusive box mounted near the ceiling in one of the corners.  "That's easily explained Professor."

I mentally smacked myself in the head.  Of course, all the ship's areas except the living quarters were monitored by computer-controlled cameras, an entirely separate system from the regular lab monitoring devices.  Every time I'd visited her I'd been recorded for posterity.  I'd installed the system myself decades ago then completely forgotten about it.

Finally seeing a reaction from me he chuckled and turned back to the door.  "I suppose we'd better start getting ready for our new addition.  She's going to need her own room and some clothing.  Can't have her running around the place naked now, can we?"  He turned and gave me a wink the disappeared through the doorway.

"There's definitely something wrong with that boy," I muttered.

"What's that Professor?" Yakage asked, his attention returning to the second subject now that the excitement was over.

"Nothing," I said in a louder tone.  I reached out and touched his shoulder.  "I have to go and start getting ready.  I'll talk to you later."  He nodded absently and I turned and left, still thinking about the sudden mood swings that were becoming evident in my other assistant.  I needed to look for a cause, before it was too late for everyone.

*****

Several hours later everything was ready.  Kagato seemed to have recovered from whatever had a hold of him this morning and was again his usual cheerful self.  He'd even set up a comfortable room for the subject and had scrounged up some clothing for her from somewhere.  She was awake again so I decided it was time.

I asked Kagato and Yakage to wait outside the lab since she was used to dealing only with me and I was unsure of what her reaction toward them would be.  I wanted her out of the tube and functioning properly before I brought them into the mix.  Yakage was nervous and fidgeted from foot to foot, unable to sit.  Kagato was outwardly calm and had a look of benign kindness on his face.

Entering the lab I brought up the lights to a dim glow and turned the dial that made the cylinder transparent.  Her eyes were open and the corners of her mouth twitched as she attempted a smile.  _We're going to have to work on muscle control, _ I sent_.  When I release you, you'll be terribly weak but that will pass in a few hours. _

_Weak? _ she replied.

_It doesn't matter, _ I explained.  _You don't have a sense of balance yet and you don't know how to walk.  We'll train you; it won't take long, your body was built with the muscle memory in place. _

She just looked at me strangely.  I could tell she understood the _words_ but the meaning didn't make any sense to her.  I sighed mentally then continued.  _Once I release you from the fluid you're going to feel bad for a little while.  Even though you don't need to actually breathe, your lungs are filled with the fluid and they'll expel it once you're surrounded by air.  You do need to breath to speak and your autonomic reflex will be to suck air.  Do you understand any of that? _

She closed her eyes in thought.  _A little.  Most of it I think.  My body has to adjust from a fluid environment to a gas environment.  Will it hurt? _

I was astounded.  She understood perfectly.  _How did you get all that and not the part about walking? _ I asked.

Her mouth twitched again.  _I understand about the walking now too.  I took it from your thoughts.  Will it hurt? _ she asked again.

I could feel my eyes widen in surprise.  I'd have to learn how to filter the link somehow.  _It will be slightly painful, _ I sent back.  _But the feeling shouldn't last more than a couple of minutes.  Are you ready? _

She nodded slightly.  _Yes.  Will the others be here? _

I made a slight adjustment then poised my finger over the release button.  _Not until you're ready to greet them; they're waiting outside for right now.  Here we go, don't try to breath until all the fluid is drained. _  

My finger descended and with a sharp click the tube walls began to lower themselves into the floor as the fluid level dropped with them.  As the level sank so did she without the fluid to support her.  When the tube was gone and the last of the fluid had drained away she was on her hands and knees on the platform.  She gave a mighty cough and her lungs began to empty themselves.  I could tell from her expression that the sensation was not pleasant and that she was experiencing the feeling of drowning.  After a minute or so the fluid was totally expelled and she drew a couple of ragged breaths.

_That…  really hurt! _ she sent.  _Is this what it feels like to be born? _

I actually laughed at this.  _No, _I replied.  _I understand that's much more painful. _  I stood for a minute and looked proudly at my creation.  _Can you talk yet? _ I asked.

She made some croaking noises and put her hand to her throat.  _No, I don't know how and it hurts to try. _

I smiled and nodded.  _That's all right, I'll teach you.  Your vocal cords are probably still too damp and too tight anyway.  That'll pass in a few hours too.  _  I grabbed a handy towel and began to dry her off.  _You're beautiful, do you know that? _

She looked at me with those golden eyes.  _If you say so, then I am.  Mother. _

"I do say so." She started at the sound of my actual voice.  "Since you need to learn to talk," I said, "I'll talk to you and you can think back to me.  That way you can learn the sound of the words.  Is this ok with you?"  She nodded agreement.  "Good.  Now we need to get you dressed before I bring the others in.  There's usually a robe around when I need it…"  I spotted it off in the corner.  "Ah!  There it is.  And look, it's just your size."  I helped her put it on.  I could see that the feeling of fabric against her skin was uncomfortable but I stopped her from removing it again.

She made a sour face as she fingered the fabric.  _It feels funny.  Do I have to wear this?  You said I was beautiful so why should I cover myself? _

"Because well-bred ladies don't go around totally naked in public.  In most societies anyway.  It's just another stupid thing that you'll have to put up with."

_Well I don't like it, _ she huffed.  _But if you say so… _

I chuckled.  "That's my good girl.  Now, let's get the others in here and we can all get introduced."

*****

To be continued

*****

Author's Notes

Ok, Ryoko's out; Kagato's showing signs of his future self, Yakage's clueless and Washu suspects something.  Next time: how Ryoko gets her name and what's that little furry thing scampering about?

*****

Review Responses

Dennisud – Kagato's changing.  All will be revealed soon.

Thundergod – Thanks for saving it from a fate worse than death.  I hope this chapter lives up to your expectations too.

Solitareone – Have you read any of the other stuff yet?  I hope you weren't disappointed; this is the only story of mine in the first-person (so far.)

Smack54 – Well, he hasn't been messing with the projects themselves, Washu's keeping too close an eye on them for that.  But the Souja is another matter.

Lizzy Hakubi – I didn't say they were, but sometimes I feel like I'm putting too much dialog in.  It's how I write though.

Vsdefender – I like this story too.  It hasn't started to drag yet like some of my other stuff seems to do (in my opinion anyway).  No, you're not one of the author's I was thinking of, most of them I've only seen on TMFFA.  But I am still waiting for your next A-ko chapter.

Wharpt – I'm not going to give anything away here and no, I have no plans to have Ryo-ohki and Ay-ohki have kids in my other stories.  But the other two cabbits that were last seen on Jurai…

Taxzombie – In the words of another character from another story "That's a secret…"

Tail-luver – A couple of buffered analgesics (aspirin in layman's terms) will help that headache.  I agree that parts of Ep. II are too slow, but except for the pod race, the action in Ep. II is much better than Ep. I.

Alighthawk – Yeah, I like the manga, but I've used it in it's own, separate Reality in my stories.  I can't wait until the new manga gets put out in TPB, it looks good from what I've seen.

*****

BobR

7/19/2002


	6. Discovery

Disclaimer

Tenchi and all associated characters are the property of AIC and Pioneer LDC.  I don't own any rights to them.  Any other characters are property of their respective copyright holders, not me.

*****

A Scientist's Tale

Chapter 6

Discovery 

*****

It had been a week since I'd released the girl and we still hadn't come up with a name for her.  She didn't seem to mind but I couldn't go through life calling my perfect daughter "hey you", now could I?  Anyway, Kagato kept arguing that because she was essentially nothing more than an android, we didn't have to name her.  She should be happy with her project number and nothing else.  Yakage, however, agreed with me.  Which earned him quite a few dirty looks from Kagato.  Both of us agreed that we should find some element of her personality and name her after that, but she hadn't shown any exceptional abilities yet.  Except a curiosity that appeared to know no bounds.  Because of her 'programming' she picked up on the ability to read within a couple of days and I was finding it difficult to tear her away from the reader, even at mealtimes.

Yakage had taken it upon himself to teach her a few basic sword techniques.  It was one of his areas of expertise and he said it would help her when she learned to form her plasma blade.  But I insisted that they keep to wooden practice blades until her regeneration ability manifested itself.  It was a good thing too, judging from the number of bruises she came out of each session with.  Kagato showed no interest in helping her at all.  Except for meals and a few other times, he was keeping pretty much to himself.  Yakage said he was going over the project data looking for any flaws and ways to improve it.  Maybe it was just me, but I was beginning to get a bit worried at his withdrawal from the rest of us.

About the eighth day after I'd released her and she still hadn't shown any sign of the extraordinary abilities I knew she possessed, I had a sudden inspiration.  Dashing out of the lab where I'd been monitoring the progress of the second subject, I ran to my cabin and snatched up the three gems.  Looking at them for a moment I thought _it just might work _ and hurried to the room where she was practicing with, or more likely being beat up by, Yakage.  Sure enough, when I entered the room I saw that he had her backed into a corner and was admonishing her to "try harder".  She looked on the point of tears and if she could've, she would probably have gladly killed her teacher at that moment.  I quickly called a stop to the session and summoned them both over to me.

"Look," I said to her.  "I know you've read the data on yourself that I've allowed you access to.  I know you know that you have special abilities.  They should have started to appear by now but they haven't.  Any ideas why?"

She shook her head and responded meekly, "No Doctor Washu."  I'd asked her not to call me Mother in front of the others and she'd agreed.  But she'd also started to call me 'mommy' in private as well, not that I really minded.

"I've tried to do some of the things," she continued.  "Form energy balls, move through solid objects…  But nothing seems to work."

"I know you have dear."  I looked at the silent Yakage then back at her.  "I wonder if the problem might not be a power and control issue.  I wasn't going to do this until later, but…  Hold out both your arms and close your eyes."

"Close my eyes?  Do I have to?"

I smiled at her.  "No, not really.  But I have a surprise for you and surprises are best given that way."  She closed her eyes and held out her arms.  "Wrists up please," I requested and she obliged.  I opened my hand to reveal the gems and Yakage's eyes widened in wonder, but he remained silent.  I gently placed a gem on each of her wrists and she giggled at the chill feel of them on her sweaty skin.

"Can I open my eyes now?" she asked.

"Nope," I said.  "Not yet."  Then I continued mentally, _I want you to form your thoughts like this. _  I showed her by inserting myself into her mind.  _You need an image of two items of power, one on each wrist.  Got it? _  I felt her concentrate then I felt her agreement.  _Good.  Now imagine absorbing that power into yourself.  Try it please. _  She concentrated harder and I smiled as the two gems sank into her wrists, remaining half exposed.  They glowed briefly and I heard her suck in her breath in a sharp hiss.  The glow faded.  I held up the third gem.  _Now, concentrate on a third source of power and bring it to you. _  The gem floated up and moved toward her neck where it merged with the receptor built into her throat.  It too glowed briefly then faded, but remained visible as a dull red spot on her neck.

"I feel weird," she said as she opened her eyes.  "What did you do to me?"

"I've given you a gift.  These three gems have been with me since I was found, long ago.  They contain tremendous power, power that I have been unable to tap into myself, for various reasons.  But you were designed with these gems in mind.  You can use their power."  I paused and allowed her to examine my "gift" as they glittered under the bright light.

"They're very pretty," she said.  "I can feel their power, but how do I use it?"

I had to make something up quickly.  "The gem on your left wrist will allow you to use your abilities but only those that relate directly to your body, like forming plasma and phasing though things.  The gem on the right will allow you to control things that you create that aren't directly a part of you, illusions for escape and evasion, shield walls that will remain standing for a short time after you leave.  Things like this.  The third gem will act as a storage battery for power."  Actually, that's all any of the gems were as far as I could tell, storage devices of some sort.  All of her control would be from her own mind and with her organic anti-matter power source she shouldn't have needed the gems at all.  But if it helped move things along…  And besides, she might actually need them as power _regulators_ once she found her own power.  That's what the receptors were designed for in the first place.  My only fear now was that she would come to depend on the gems and totally ignore her own abilities.  I'd have to make sure that didn't happen.  Somehow.

I glanced over at Yakage, who'd remained silent through the whole exchange.  He had a frown on his face but it was more one of not understanding than of disapproval.  Not that it mattered to me in the least. I turned back to the girl.  "I want you to try something for me.  Hold out your hand and concentrate on gathering power in it."

"Like this?"  She closed her eyes and her brows knit in concentration.  There was a sharp snap like an electric discharge then a small glow began to form in her palm.  She gasped and opened her eyes.  The glow faded.  "I felt something.  I did it, didn't I?" she asked, examining her palm for any sign of scorch marks.

I was grinning like a fool.  This was going to work!  "You sure did.  A little anyway.  It's a good start, now, why don't you run along and practice for a bit?  I need to talk to Yakage here anyway."

She smiled at me and bounced off down the corridor toward her room.  I turned to Yakage.

"What just happened here Professor?" he asked.

"A breakthrough," I replied.  "But let's not tell Kaggy about it just yet.  I want it to be a surprise for him too."

"But the cameras…" he started to say.

"Are disabled in this part of the ship," I finished.  "I took them offline when you started your training and only I know the codes to reactivate them.  Just as a precaution you understand."

He nodded gravely.  "Yes.  I think I'm beginning to.  We need to talk more on this later, right now I want to take a shower and get cleaned up."

I teasingly held my nose and waved him away.  "Yep, that'd better be first on your list.  Come to my room later and we'll continue our talk."  He bowed formally to me then left.

*****

It wasn't too long before Yakage was knocking excitedly on my cabin door.  "Washu!  Professor Washu!  You have to see this!"

I yanked the door open and he stumbled in, off balance from the knock I interrupted.  I helped him up from his prone position on my floor.  "Ok, ok.  Calm down Yakage.  What's happened?  What do I need to see?"

"The subject Washu!  She's back in the practice room and…  Come on!  You've got to see this!"

"We'll watch from here."  I turned to my computer console and entered the code to reactivate the cameras in the practice room, keying them to my display only.  What I saw astounded me.  There was my daughter, zipping around the room, fully-formed energy sword in hand, dodging the attacks of some type of creature I'd never seen before.  I quickly reached for the intruder warning but Yakage stopped me with a hand on my arm.  "Watch," he said.

The creature had finally backed her into a corner and she was forced to attack instead of defend.  With a move that I recognized as one Yakage had taught her, she dispatched the critter with a single blow.  The beast evaporated into nothingness.  She stood the breathing heavily for a moment, then moved to the center of the room.  I could see her eyes close in concentration and wisps of plasma began to swirl around her.  They came together and solidified into another being similar to the earlier one.  She stepped back in a guard position and the dance started all over again.

"That's remarkable," I exclaimed, unable to tear my eyes from the screen.  "She's combined powers, plasma control and telekinesis.  And the energy blade, I didn't expect her to form one, let alone master it, so soon."

Yakage chuckled. "Oh, she's far from mastering it.  More cut and slash than anything else, but she shows raw ability."  His eyes followed her movements and those of her creation.  "Ryoko," he said in a low voice.  "That's what we should call her.  Ryoko."

"Ryoko?" I responded.  "That's Juraian for 'Devil Summoner' or something, isn't it?"

"Yes," he replied.  "It's also a name, but given it's meaning it's not used very often."

"Ryoko," I said again, tasting it on my tongue.  "Ryoko.  I like it, Ryoko it is."  I turned off the screen and rekeyed the security codes just as she finished off her latest opponent.  "Come on, let's go give her the good news."

*****

To say that Ryoko was thrilled with her name would be an understatement.  She was positively bouncing off the walls with joy.  It was like she finally had an identity, a personality.  Kagato, when she introduced herself to him at dinner, was a bit less thrilled.  After the meal Yakage took Ryoko off to the practice room for a short session and Kagato pulled me aside as I tossed the dirty dinner utensils into the recycler.

"Just what do you think you're doing?  What purpose did giving it a name serve?" he hissed at me.

I yanked my arm from his grasp and pushed him away, shaking with anger.  "Who do you think you are boy?" I asked in my most scathing tone.  "As far a I can recall, I'm the senior here and this is still _my_ project.  You'd better adjust that attitude or you'll find yourself back at the Academy cleaning test tubes for the next 50 years."

He backed away from me, his own anger flaring from his eyes.  "We shall see Professor, we shall see."  He whirled and stalked out of the room.  I decided not to mention the confrontation to Yakage, I didn't want him to get into a fight with Kagato; I was finding it harder and harder to trust my erstwhile assistant.  I finished cleaning up then went to check on Yakage and Ryoko.

By the time I arrived at the practice room I had calmed down enough to actually enjoy watching the two spar.  Yakage spotted me standing in the doorway and called a halt to the current exercise.  He motioned me over.

"Washu, watch what Ryoko's learned to do."  He nodded to her and she floated up off the floor until there were several feet of empty air under her.  "Of course, I told her she couldn't do that in our practice sessions, but now I have to revise the tactics I've been teaching her as a result of this new ability."

I watched as she did a somersault in mid-air the floated back down to the floor.  Or rather, into the floor.  My mouth fell open with astonishment and I pointed at where her feet were supposed to be.  Yakage's eyes followed my finger and he sat down hard.  Ryoko looked at both of us, a confused expression on her face.

"What's wrong?" she asked.  Then she too looked down.  "AH!  My feet, they're gone!  But that's odd, I can still feel them…"  She floated up a bit and her feet reappeared.  "Oops.  I guess they're still there after all.  What's going on?  Why did that happen?"

"Molecular phasing," I explained.  "It's one of your inherent abilities, like forming an energy sword and flying."  But you were supposed to _gradually_ gain these things.  It seems that giving you the gems has forced them on you all at once."  I walked over to her and pulled her down.  This time her feet didn't go through the floor.  "Have you tried teleporting yet?" I asked.

She thought for a moment.  "Um, nope.  I don't think so anyway.  How does it work?"

I didn't have a good answer for that and told her so.  "How about telekinesis?" I wondered.

She looked at me blankly.

"Moving things with your mind," I said.

"Ah!" she smiled at me.  "Yeah, I can do that."

"Show me," I requested.

Ryoko looked around he room and her eyes fell on the rack of practice swords against the wall.  With a sly grin she glanced at Yakage and two of the bokken moved into the air and took up guard positions in front him.  His own sword came up in defense.  One of the swords attempted to sneak around behind him but he moved like lightning and suddenly both practice blades fell to the ground in several pieces.  

He grounded his blade and smiled at Ryoko.  "I can see I'm going to have to do quite a bit of revision in my tactics.  I may finally have an opponent that can keep me on my toes."

A polite clapping came from the doorway.  I whirled and saw Kagato standing there, watching everything closely.  He sauntered into the room, eyeing Ryoko appreciatively, then spoke to me.  "Washu, I came to apologize for my earlier actions.  I don't know what got into me, but I'm over it now."

I looked at him as one would a snake, but bobbed my head in acceptance.  Kagato turned back to examining Ryoko.  He walked around her as one would a piece of machinery that one was considering purchasing.

"It seems that _Ryoko_ here is progressing faster than planned.  We may be farther ahead of schedule than I thought."  He patted her on top of the head and started for the door.  Just before leaving, he turned back.  "Once again Washu, I'm very sorry."  He went out and the door closed behind him.

"What was that all about?" Yakage asked.  "What was he apologizing for?"

"Don't worry about it," I told him.  "He said something earlier that I took exception to and I chewed him out about it."

"Mommy?"  Ryoko said, moving to stand close to me.  "That man scares me.  A lot.  I don't like him."

Yakage laughed. "Mommy?  She calls you mommy?"

"Yeah, what about it?" I fumed.

"Ah, nothing.  And Ryoko?"  She looked at him with a raised eyebrow.  "Don't worry about Kagato, you're much more powerful than he is.  When I get a bit more training into you I'd pit you against anyone, even a Goddess."

"Tsunami," I whispered the name of the Juraian deity.  A part of my mind twinged for no apparent reason.

"Yes," agreed Yakage.  "Maybe even her."

*****

Now I'd like to say that I woke up the next morning refreshed and with a bright outlook on life.  But if I did I'd be lying.  Instead I was bleary-eyed and depressed.  Kagato's actions the day before had me worried, he was up to something but I couldn't figure out what it was.  I got up from the bed where I has tossed and turned all night, assumed my adult form and stepped into the shower.  No sooner had I got the water adjusted to my liking when the intercom started buzzing.  Swearing profusely, I left the shower and slapped the intercom button.  "Yeah, what is it?" I growled.  The screen lit up and Yakage's face appeared.  His eyes widened as he cast an appreciative glance at me.  I'd totally forgotten to wrap a towel around myself _and_ I was still an adult!  I quickly grabbed a robe and switched back to my child-like self.  I could read the disappointment on his face.  "Pervert," I muttered as I twisted the robe's belt.  "Now, what's so damned important that you had to call me in the shower?"

He cleared his throat then explained.  "Professor Washu, the second subject is almost ready to emerge.  The egg is bouncing and making strange noises."

"Ah.  And is it going to hatch right this minute?"

He frowned.  "No, I think sometime in the next couple of hours though."

I glared at his image.  "Then you won't mind if I finish my shower first?"

He nodded meekly.

"Heh.  I thought not.  And don't get any ideas just because I let you see me naked.  I'm much, much too old for you."  I clicked off the intercom unit then stuck my tongue out at the blank screen.  "Even if you are a good-looking young man," I mumbled as I discarded my robe and went back into the shower.  This time I kept my child form.

After grabbing a quick bite to eat and a cup of tea, I gathered up Ryoko and joined Yakage and Kagato in the small lab.  Keeping as much distance between myself and Kagato as I could, I eyed the egg as it wobbled back and forth on the stand.

"What is it?" asked Ryoko, her nose pressed against the protective glass.

"It's for you."  I slid the glass open.  "Go ahead, pick it up.  It won't bite, I promise."

She eyed the egg warily as she reached into the container and poked it with her finger.  When it didn't react she started to caress it.  "It's so warm, and smooth."  She giggled as it moved under her touch.

"Pick it up, hold it," I said again.  She tentatively lifted it from its place in the chamber.  And almost dropped it as it twitched.  Yakage started, as if he was going to make a diving catch, but Ryoko managed to keep a hold of it.  Kagato looked on with amused indifference.

"Now what?" Ryoko asked, holding the egg tight against her breast.

"Come with me." I motioned for her to follow me out of the lab.  I led her down the passage to a room that we had specially prepared just for this moment.  Entering, I had her sit on a cushion and shooed my two assistants out of the room.  Turning back to Ryoko I said, "Now you wait.  Talk to it, handle it.  It shouldn't be long now."  I joined my assistants outside and softly closed the door behind me.  Yakage turned on the monitor to watch.

I was right; it wasn't long before cracks began to appear in the shell and a small wisp of vapor escaped.  Ryoko kept whispering encouraging words as the cracks got wider.  An ear emerged followed by a twitching nose.  Two eyes opened, golden eyes like Ryoko's.  _Must have something to do with the Mass genetics, _ I thought.  There were even a few cyan wisps inside the creature's ears.

Ryoko was helping the creature break free by pulling pieces of shell away from its body.  When it was totally free of its shell, she cuddled it close, making soft cooing noises.  The creature itself was purring loudly.  The girl looked deep into its eyes, so similar to her own, then up at the hidden camera, which apparently wasn't so well hidden after all.  "She says her name is Ryo-ohki!  She can talk to me in my head, just like you can Washu!"

Kagato turned and walked off, a look of disgust painting his face.

*****

To be continued

*****

Author's Notes

What can I say?  One or two chapters left in this story I guess.  I've already got three pages at the very end done; I just need to fill in the gap.

Next chapter: Kagato looses it for good and what happened to Yakage?

*****

Review Responses

Dennisud – Ah, there's nothing to dread here.  I don't do dark fics; they don't fit my personality.  (I don't do lemons for an entirely different reason…)

Vsdefender – You think I'm getting smoother?  Is it just this story or does "In a Family Way" seem that way to?

Ministry Agent – I hate to say this, but I'm making it all up.  The manga introduces Yakage and Minagi but doesn't go into any big backstory on them.  I've read your stories too (including your "Complete Guide to America – I didn't know whether to be insulted or to laugh so I chose the later, but your North American geography needs a bit of work…) and I must say that you are one of the better authors out there.  The detail you go into is amazing.

Alighthawk – A grandiose event?  You were expecting a brass band?  Rides and concessions?  I maybe could have put a little more ceremony into it but as I wrote I was getting the distinct feeling that Ryoko wanted out NOW!

Tail-luver – Ok, enough Star Wars.  If you want more, read the chapter in "Ladies Night Out" where they visit the cantina on Tattooine.  (BTW, as I wrote these responses I got an e-mail from LucasFilm stating that Attack of the Clones will be out on DVD and VHS in November.)

Meekachu – I have to give credit where it's due.  This story was partially inspired by that discussion you and I had on Ryoko's origins.  The one about whether she was ever actually a child or not.

Thundergod – Yep, he's changing.  But why?

Smack54 – Ryoko's getting more screen time now, but she's still very immature.  Even compared to what she was in the OAV.

Taxzombie – Ryoko's reaction to wearing clothing for the first time struck me as natural due to her propensity for showing off her body in the OAV.

Wharpt – Well, we know what's going to happen. Oh, you mean in the story!  Here it is.

Jyl – Thanks.  I'm a bit disappointed that you stopped your Hart story.  I was enjoying it and wanted to see where it was going next.

Priest – Thanks.  I don't know how you've missed it 'til now.  Want to be added to my notification list?  E-mail me if you do, I only add readers to it if they specifically request it.  I don't want to be accused of sending unsolicited e-mail (spam).

*****

BobR

08/02/2002


	7. Betrayal

Disclaimer

Tenchi and all associated characters are the property of AIC and Pioneer LDC.  I don't own any rights to them.  Any other characters are property of their respective copyright holders, not me.

*****

A Scientist's Tale

Chapter 7

Betrayal 

*****

For the next few weeks Kagato's presence was barely felt by the motley group that had become Souja's crew.  I spent most of the time reviewing the results of the project in addition to taking a few hours a day to be with Ryoko and to try to get her to bring out her latent abilities.  I also tried to teach her about Ryo-ohki's abilities but she was more concerned with making sure her newfound friend was content.  It wasn't unusual to find them wandering about the ship, Ryo-ohki perched on her master's shoulder, both sets of golden eyes bright with wonder at the world around them.  I had to chuckle sometimes; if they thought Souja was so wonderful, wait until they made planetfall in a couple of months.  Or saw my _real_ lab, the one in subspace.

Yakage wasn't idle either.  He spent many hours a week coaching Ryoko in combat moves and although she was still far from his level, she did manage to make him break a sweat occasionally.  He told me at dinner one day that Ryoko had the potential to be a master swordswoman if she put her mind to it.  He even suggested that he would like to continue her training after the end of the project.  I told him I'd consider it.

Ryoko had the appearance of a fourteen-year-old girl at this point.  I had been hoping to keep her in the tube until her apparent age was a couple of years farther along, but even I had to agree that it was probably for the best that she'd been released when she was.  Her social skills were another matter.  For some reason she'd taken to throwing tantrums when she didn't get her way and let me tell you, trying to keep a super-powerful being with the inherent ability to lay waste to planets and the apparent attitude of a spoiled nine year old under control was no mean feat.  I spent a considerable amount of time delving into my own latent abilities just to clean up after her.  And some of those abilities astounded even me.  I found that I had the ability to form a sword very similar to Ryoko's, something I never expected.  I also found that I had the power to affect the minds of those around me, to make them see things that weren't actually there.  Of course this ability was useless against a strong mind that was prepared for the deception; still, it was nice to know that I could do it if I had to.  Some latent telekinesis also manifested itself, possibly tied to the telepathy that Ryoko and I shared.  But it was very weak compared to Ryoko's ability.  At one point I also discovered that I could gather impressions and sometimes deeper things from Ryo-ohki as well.  This was truly a surprise since as far as I knew Ryo-ohki had none of my genetic material in her make up.  Perhaps it was another side effect of mine and Ryoko's link. 

*****

Late one evening ship's time, Yakage screened me in my room.  This time he didn't catch me in the shower and I could read the disappointment on his face.  Pervert.  Anyway, I was sitting in bed and reading when he called.

"Professor, we may have a problem," he said calmly.  Couldn't have been much of a problem if he was that calm.  I sighed and set my book down on the bed.  Yes, I still actually read real books sometimes.  You know, the ones with paper?

"What is it?" I asked, giving him a stern look.

"The Academy just commed us, the Juraian Council wants a status report on the project."

I waved him off with my hand, quite a feat through a video screen.  "So, just send them a report.  The usual stuff, you know, things are progressing smoothly, the subject is learning at an advanced rate, la-de-da.  The usual."

He shook his head.  "That won't work this time. As Project Head they're demanding you come and give the report in person.  In two days."

Two days?  I had to be back at the Academy in two days?  Yakage could tell from my expression that I wasn't pleased.  "I'm sorry Washu," he said mildly.

"Not your fault," I told him.  "Reply that I'll be there."  He nodded and switched off the screen.  What to do?  I didn't trust Kagato anymore and I didn't want to leave him alone with Ryoko.  Not that Yakage wouldn't be here, but I knew that he still considered Kagato his friend and might not see trouble if it stood up and slapped him.  For a moment I considered sending Kagato in my place; as my First Assistant he could give the report.  But no, the Council had asked for me specifically, I had to go myself.

I sighed and sat back down on my bed.  Ok, if they wanted a report I'd give them a report.  I'd collect all of the data I had on Ryoko; her training, her current abilities and her potential.  Throw in some video footage of her and Ryo-ohki and they'd be happy as bivalves in mud.  Hell, some of the shots of Ryo-ohki were so cute that if they were ever publicly released Juraian kids'd be clamoring for stuffed plushies of her.  Hmm, not a bad idea, while I was at the Academy I'd have to look into copyrighting her image.  I'd make a killing in toys alone!

A day later I was ready to leave.  I had all of my material gathered, including the most precious thing of all.  With some protests I'd managed to get a bit of Ryoko's genetic material by taking a blood sample.  The small vial was safely stowed in my case; if they asked for it I'd give it to them.  They most certainly weren't going to get the original model!  But I'd feel guilty if I didn't give them something for their money and their scientists were bright enough to analyze it and create their own super soldier.  The thought didn't bother me too much because whatever they created, it wouldn't be _my_ Ryoko.

We all stood in Souja's shuttle bay saying our goodbyes.  Ryoko was there, Ryo-ohki perched on her head.  Cute.  She gave me a hug and told me she'd miss me.  Yakage handed me my case and told me to knock 'em dead.  I considered it for a moment then dismissed the thought.  Even Kagato had come out of his self-imposed isolation to see me off.  He said a few bland words of encouragement then shook my hand.  I noticed him surreptitiously glancing at my daughter when he thought I wasn't looking.  It sent a shudder down my spine but I'd only be gone for a few days so what kind of trouble could he get into in that amount of time?

Time to go.  As much as I wanted to stay, I also didn't want the Juraians to come looking for me.  Yet.  With a last jaunty wave I climbed aboard the small ship and it lifted off the deck and made it's way out the force wall that kept the atmosphere in.  Once clear of the main ship, the computer set a course for the Academy and engaged the hyperdrive.  I sat back in my seat and cleared my mind, determined not to let my fears get the best of me.  By the time I arrived at the Academy several hours later it had almost worked too.

*****

"And that is where the project now stands My Lords," I finished my presentation with a flourish.  The Council's representatives talked amongst themselves for a few minutes while I stood there fidgeting, anxious to get this over with and get back to Ryoko.  I'd been back at the Academy almost a full week before the Juraians condescended to see me.  Pompous bastards.

"Professor Washu," spoke up one of the Juraians.  "You say your prototype will be ready to demonstrate in about a month?"

"Yes My Lord," I agreed.

"But in your video it looks like it's ready now."

"No My Lord, all of her abilities have not yet manifested," I replied.

"_Her_ abilities.  Ah yes."  They started conferring again.  "Professor Washu," another one drew my thoughts back from Ryoko to the present.  "You know why we asked you for your report in person, don't you?"

"No My Lord," I answered, starting to become really annoyed with them.  Couldn't the idiots see that I had better things to do?

"Doctor Clay has disappeared with his prototype, Zero I believe it was called.  We had to make sure you didn't have similar ideas."

I was surprised but not really shocked by the news of Clay's disappearance, still, it was nothing more than what I myself was planning to do.  I looked at the gathered Juraians with a steady eye.  "No My Lord," I lied.  "As you can see, I am here.  As a gesture of faith I also brought a sample of the prototype's genetic material."  I pulled the vial from my pocket.  "If you wish it, it's yours to take with you."

All of them stopped talking and turned to look at me.  "Tell me Professor, do you expect something to _happen_ to your prototype?" one of them asked.

I swallowed hard.  Had they seen through my ruse after all?  "No My Lords, I don't," I responded.

The Juraian who had asked nodded.  "Then we won't need the sample.  We'll have the prototype itself in a month, as you've promised us."

"But…  Yes My Lords, you will.  In a month."  Idiots.

"That will be all Professor Washu.  You may return to your project."  I was dismissed.  Just like that.  I tucked the vial back into my pocket, bowed politely and turned on my heel and walked out of the room.  As far as I was concerned, Jurai wasn't going to see any piece of my creation.  Ever.

*****

I arrived back at Souja in the middle of ship's night.  Even given the late hour it was odd that no one was there to greet me, not that I was expecting a major ceremony or anything.  Souja's shuttle bay echoed emptily at the sound of my footsteps as I stepped of the small ship's boarding ramp.  "Hello!" I called out.  "I'm back.  Where is everybody?"  Nothing.  "Ryoko?  Mommy's here!  Ryo-ohki?  Yakage!"  No answer.  "Kagato?"  Nothing but the sound of my own voice bouncing back from the far wall.  I left my baggage on the shuttle, gifts for Ryoko, new research material for Yakage and Kagato to pursue and a few other sundry items I'd picked up, and made my way out into the main part of the ship.  I couldn't quite place it but Souja seemed different somehow.

I crept down the corridor, looking for anything out of place but finding nothing.  I sensed rather than heard an odd melody wafting through the still air of the ship.  The door of a long unused storeroom shushed open behind me and I almost screamed as a cold hand grabbed my arm.  Another hand covered my mouth and I was dragged into the darkened room, too startled to struggle.

"Professor, I'm going to uncover your mouth," Yakage's voice whispered in my ear.  "Don't make a sound, ok?"  I nodded and he removed his hand.  "I suppose you want to know what's going on?" he asked in a low tone.

"That would be a correct assumption," I whispered back.  "Just what the hell _is_ going on around here?  Why are you sneaking about like a fugitive?"

Yakage sat down on the bare metal deck and covered his face with his hands.  "That's because that's just what I am.  And now you are too."

"Explain please," I commanded in an over-exaggerated whisper.

Yakage looked up at me, eyes brimming with tears.  "I'm sorry Washu.  I tried to stop him but he was too much for me.  And now he's got Ryoko and Ryo-ohki as well."

I reached down and grabbed him by the collar of his soiled tunic.  "What the hell are you talking about; who did you try to stop and who's got my daughter?"  Yakage tried to cower away from me and my anger but I held him too tight.  I heard him whimper with fear.  "Oh stop it."  I gave him a shake and let loose of his collar.  "You know I'm not going to hurt you.  Now calm yourself and explain what's happened while I was away."

My erstwhile assistant gathered himself together and straightened himself up.  He ran a hand through his matted hair before speaking.  "It's Kagato, Professor.  He's taken control of Souja.  I don't know how but…"

"What about Ryoko," I broke in.  "You said he had her.  Is she a prisoner?  I find that hard to believe."

He looked away from me, unable to meet my gaze.  "Not a prisoner.  Not exactly.  I'm sorry Washu but he's found some way to influence her programming.  It's like she's become another person, vicious, violent.  And Ryo-ohki follows her lead."

I sat down heavily on the floor and looked up at him.  He still wouldn't meet my eyes and I knew he blamed himself for what had happened.  "It's not your fault," I said in a weak voice. "I saw this coming and chose to ignore the warning signs.  I thought he'd wait until the project was complete; that I'd have a bit of time left to plan.

"But all isn't lost," I continued and saw him look at me with interest.  "I doubt if he's corrupted her programming.  He may have suppressed some of it and taken control of other functions but Ryoko's a tough cookie.  It may take a while but her true self will break through.  In the meantime there's something I want you to do."  He looked at me eagerly, wanting to redeem himself for his perceived failure to stop Kagato.  I pulled the vial of Ryoko's genetic material out of my pocket and tossed it to him.  He caught it and examined it with interest.  "I want you to see that the Juraians get that.  They already know what it is.  Explain what's happened here; maybe they can use it if I fail."

Fear crept into his expression.  "Fail in what Professor?"  Understanding dawned on him.  "No!  I won't allow it!  He's too powerful and now that he has Ryoko obeying his every whim…"

I stood up and dusted myself off, ignoring his pleas.  Walking to the door I looked back at him standing there, tears beginning to form in his eyes again, the all-important vial held tightly in his hand.  "Don't worry about me, I still have a trick or two up my sleeve.  The shuttle's still hot and if I made it this far you should be able to get to the shuttle bay with no problem.  Now get that material and your report to Jurai!"  The door opened and I stepped into the dimly lit corridor.  As the door closed behind me I sagged against the wall.  For all my brave talk I really had no idea what I was going to do next but I knew I had to do something to save my daughter from her fate.

*****

Kagato was waiting as I walked onto Souja's command deck.  This part of the ship certainly looked different, it resembled a cathedral, complete with giant pipe organ.  I suddenly knew fear.  If Kagato could make these changes in less than a week then he was far more powerful than I'd originally thought.  In this room the music was very audible and would've been hauntingly beautiful if it hadn't been so ominous.  I stood on the gangway waiting to be noticed and in a few moments the music faded away.  Kagato faded into view before me.

"Ah, Washu.  I thought it was you leaving in the shuttle again but I see now that it was my erstwhile associate.  Probably headed for Jurai.  Too bad, I really felt that I could, ah, persuade him to join me in my little venture.  I don't suppose…?  No probably not."  He turned away and gestured for me to follow.  "So, what do you think of Souja now?  I think it suits me much better than the antiseptic version you maintained."

I stood there, frozen in place by my anger.  "You bastard," I spit.  "I trusted you completely and this is how you repay me."  I formed my energy sword and lunged at him, fully knowing that although he wasn't at Yakage's level, even on his worst day he was far better with a sword than I could ever hope to be.  He laughed as he faded out only to reappear behind me.

He chuckled as he reached over my shoulder and touched a spot near my elbow.  My arm immediately went dead and my sword fizzled out.  He moved around to stand in front of me again before speaking.  "I see I'm not the only one who's discovered a new potential in themselves.  Impressive.  Did you know that my species is mildly telepathic?"  I glared at him, massaging my dead arm.  He shrugged.  "No, I guess not.  I didn't realize it either until very recently."  He turned and walked away from me, back towards the immense organ at the front of the room.  "But come, allow me to show you what I have accomplished."

I followed behind him, careful to keep my distance and trying to note any escape route that might be available.  I stalled.  "Kagato, I have to ask you, why?  Why are you doing all this?"

He stopped and turned back towards me.  "Surely you know?  After all, they've been in your possession for millennia."  I gave him a blank look, having no idea what he was talking about.  His jaw dropped.  "The gems Washu.  The three gems you gave to the prototype."

I shook my head and gave a weak smile.  "Those?  They're nothing more than storage devices of some sort.  Even I've never found another use for them, nor have I been able to get any data from them."  I didn't tell him that something, some inner force, had stopped me every time I'd tried; I thought it best to keep a few secrets.

He snapped his fingers and Ryoko appeared before us, hanging limply in the air.  A small sound escaped my throat and I started forward only to be stopped by some invisible force.  "She is uninjured for the moment, but that might not be the case if you don't give me what I want."

"And that would be the gems?" I asked.  He smiled wickedly.  "Can't do it my boy.  They aren't mine to give anymore.  Ryoko has to give them up consciously and willingly.  You can't take them by force and even if you kill her they still won't be yours to control."

His eyes narrowed and his gaze shifted back and forth between Ryoko and myself.  "Those gems contain the power of a god.  I must have them!  Tell me how I can take them!"

I laughed at his discomfiture.  "I said I couldn't help you.  But since the gem's powers are similar to the power of the Juraian Royals, why don't you ask them for help?  I'm sure they wouldn't mind."

"Juraian power?  Interesting.  If I can control a Royal Tree then maybe this still might work."

I laughed again.  "_You_ get a hold of a Royal Tree?  That's the best thing I've heard all day.  You ought to go on the road with your act, it's a riot."  Anger flared in his eyes and he gestured to my daughter.  Her eyes began to glow green and she floated forward.  I reached out with my mind and tried to touch hers.  I found her intellect buried so deeply that I almost couldn't reach it.  _Ryoko, mommy's here.  Don't worry. _

_Mommy? _ Her mental voice was very weak and childlike.  _Mommy, I'm scared. _

Tears filled my eyes as I struggled against the force that held me.  _I know little one, I know.  I'll do my best to help you but I don't think I can right now. _

"You know, you're right Washu."  Kagato's voice startled me and broke my concentration, making me lose contact with Ryoko for a moment.  "If the gems have the same power as Jurai then there must be other sources as well.  Taking possession of a Tree is still a plan but by no means the only one.  One way or another I _will_ control the gems."

I snarled at him as I fought against whatever held me.  _Ryoko, I'm sorry baby, I don't think mommy can help you right now, _ I repeated apologetically.  _You need to keep fighting him yourself.  Grow strong and know that I'm always with you. _

For a moment her eyes returned to normal as she fought his will.  "Mom…" she managed to gasp before _he_ once again asserted control.

"Washu, Washu, Washu.  I don't know why but I feel some sort of affection for you so I won't kill you.  Besides, I might just need some of the information you have tucked away in that unkempt little head of yours."  He signaled to the automaton that had been my daughter.  "Take her and put her in stasis and perhaps as a reward for following my instructions so well, I'll give you some measure of freedom later.  Much later."

Ryoko's grip never loosened as she took me to the room where she'd been 'born' just those few weeks before.  Still paralyzed by Kagato's power, I couldn't even struggle as she placed me in the stasis chamber.  As the crystal formed around me I felt a tear roll down my cheek; I'd never even gotten to truly know my daughter and now, like my son those oh-so-many years ago, she too was being taken away.  And I didn't even have the comfort of knowing that she was being raised in a loving family.  My last coherent thoughts as the stasis field overcame me was that at least Yakage had gotten away and that someday, sometime in the future, Kagato would be made to pay for his treachery.  I just hoped I would be there to see it.

*****

Epilogue

*****

For 5000 years I remained in stasis while Kagato used my daughter to commit vile acts.  He never ceased coveting Ryoko's gems but since they were effectively out of his reach he found another way to make use of them, the whole time searching for the secret of the Juraian Royal power so that he could take them for himself.  For all those years I was never truly out of contact with Ryoko.  Oh, I was in stasis all right, but occasionally I would catch glimpses of her or Ryo-ohki through our mental link.  I could feel the torment in her soul as she killed and destroyed and took the blame for Kagato's actions.  I did my best to soothe her by trying to dull the emotions she was feeling and to dim the most horrible of the memories.  I'd like to think I made a difference, helped her stay sane but most of the credit has to go to her, her strength of will.  

I was overjoyed when Yosho decided not to kill her but placed her in stasis herself.  Her time there was like mine; awake but not awake, aware of events but unable to interact.  I knew that the Juraian prince had plans for my daughter but I didn't know what they were.  Eventually he decided it was time, that Ryoko had been punished enough, and he allowed his grandson to free her from her imprisonment.  He must have also known that Kagato would sense her and track her down and that with Ryoko, Tenchi and Ayeka together, all of the necessary players were in place to finish Kagato at last.  I'd also like to think he knew about me too, but that would be pushing it.  I have a feeling that Mihoshi freeing me was a side benefit of his plan, an unexpected bonus.  But if Tsunami had a hand in guiding him, who knows?  Not even I, her sister, can guess at her motives.  Of course, she has little clue as to mine as well.

*****

Little Keiko gave a huge yawn and cuddled against her mother's shoulder.  It was well past the three-year-old's normal bedtime but she'd insisted on staying up for the entire story.  "Mommy? Is Gramma Washu true?  Is that how you were borned?" she asked Ryoko.

Ryoko had a faraway look in her eyes as she answered, "I don't know dear.  I have no memory of any of that."  Ryo-ohki, cuddling in cabbit form with Ay-ohki at the end of the couch, miya'd softly.  _She_ remembered parts of it anyway.

Juro looked at his Mommy Ryoko then at his Grandma Washu and saw the sad expressions on both their faces.  "Well, I think that's what happened," he stated in the matter-of-fact tone of a four-year-old.  "Mommy Ryoko couldn't a ever of done those bad things on her own.  She's too nice."

Ayeka snorted, suppressing a laugh.  Juro punched his mother on the shoulder.  "She is mommy.  She plays with us all the time and she never hurts us."

The princess patted her son on the head.  "I know darling, it's just that Mommy Ryoko and I have been rivals for a long time and my early memories of her are a bit different than Grandma Washu's."  She set the boy on his feet and turned to take the sleepy Keiko from Ryoko.  "It's time for little ones to go to bed," she said as she cuddled Ryoko's daughter and took her own son by the hand.  As they reached the bottom of the stairs Ayeka looked back over her shoulder.  "Ryoko, I'll be going to bed now too.  Don't stay up too late, you know I don't enjoy sleeping alone anymore and Tenchi won't be down from the shrine for at least two more hours, maybe more."  Ayeka gave her co-wife a sly wink and the trio disappeared up the stairs leaving Ryoko and Washu sitting in an awkward silence.  Ryo-ohki looked at her master, then at her creator.  She poked her mate with one paw to wake him and the two cabbits hopped off up the stairs themselves to join the children in their beds.

After avoiding each other's gaze for a few moments, Ryoko couldn't hold it in any longer.  "Is that _really_ how it happened?  Why don't I remember any of that?" she asked then thought of something Washu had said and raised an eyebrow to her mother.  "And just what kind of gifts were you bringing me?"

Washu sighed deeply.  "Yes, that's exactly what happened.  I may have missed a few details here and there but still…  I'm not sure why you don't remember but I suspect the trauma of what Kagato forced you to do has something to do with it.  Those memories are probably locked so deep that you'll never find them.  And the gifts?"  Washu shrugged noncommittally.  "Just the normal things a teenage girl might like; makeup, clothes, magazines, stuffed animals, books on close combat techniques, stuff like that."

Ryoko snorted at this but she wasn't quite done yet, she still had a couple of questions that needed answering.  "What about Yakage?  What happened to him?  Minagi doesn't exist in this Reality, so what happened to the DNA sample you gave him?"

Washu bowed her head.  "I don't know," she said in a small, tired voice.  "I can only assume that he was waylaid by pirates on his way to Jurai or that Kagato caught up with him before he could create her."  She lifted her head and smiled crookedly at her daughter.  "Or, he _did_ get away and went into hiding.  Even though he was a member of one of the lesser noble houses, he didn't trust the Juraian government any more than I did.  If he's still alive, he's well over 5000 years old; that's a long time, even for a Juraian.  In that case he may or may not have done anything with that sample.  Who knows?  We might just run into our own Minagi some day; it's a big universe out there."  The little scientist yawned hugely herself.  "Now goodnight Mommy Ryoko, go join your family and sleep well.  We'll talk more about your past some other time."

Ryoko watched her mother disappear into her lab and the pirate's lips twitched into a soft smile as she too faded from view.

*****

The End

*****

Author's Notes

Whew, it's finally done.  Sorry it took so long but I can't blame writer's block this time, just a lack of time to finish it up (or maybe I was just too lazy).  It took a not-so-gentle shove from Ministry Agent to get me off my butt and _make_ the time to complete this piece.  I would also like to thank Meekachu for being my sounding board and for remembering what Ryoko's daughter's name was going to be.  Since my memory has more holes than Swiss cheese it's good that I have someone else paying attention.  And of course a big thanks to all of my other readers for being so patient and not storming my home and demanding recompense for their pain and suffering.

Oh, and if your wondering, I do have an explanation as to why Washu couldn't access her own lab from aboard Souja.  I think it requires a fixed point in space and fairly constant gravity to form an entrance.  It may also require a core-tap to power it (now _there's_ a scary thought, I wonder if Tenchi knows what he has in his closet…)  These conditions won't exist aboard a free-flying spacecraft.

*****

Review Responses

Tail-luver – Sorry, Washu's not strong enough, or at least she thinks she's not, to kick anyone's butt.

Wharpt – Yep, you got it.  Ryoko has/had a mental block on the full capabilities of her powers.  I'm working on getting copies of those tapes too, but after 5000 years they're a bit hard to find.

Ministry Agent – Oh really?  I've always thought the Rockies were in the west and the _Smokies_ in the east.  Sorry, my mistake.  Anyway, thanks for the push that got me jumpstarted on this.

Smack54 – Kagato waited until Washu was away to move.  I think he was still a bit afraid of her.

Vsdefender – His journey to the Dark Side is now complete.  He was tempted by the power of the gems and proved weak and easy to corrupt.

Rel – Yakage has disappeared.  Maybe he or this universe's Minagi will reappear in a later story.  Having the two Minagi's meet might be fun, especially if Yakage's still alive somehow.

Alighthawk – Actually, Kagato started out as pretty nice guy in this story and as for Washu being over the top, I think that her 5000 years in stasis, almost but not quite conscious, kinda pushed her over the edge.

Taxzombie – I hate killing off good characters so I gave Yakage an out, hope you don't mind.

Lizzy Hakubi – Ryoko _is_ an innocent.  She's a victim of fate.

*****

BobR

9-9-2002


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